Friday, September 26, 2014

Ryan White won't be available to the Flyers organization until calendar year 2015.

White, signed in a depth move by Ron Hextall this Summer, and who was expected to be part of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this year, suffered a torn pectoral muscle while training in August. Following subsequent surgery, the club was noticeably mum on a timetable until Friday afternoon.

Although nothing official came down from the team, several outlets are reporting that White will be out five months while rehabbing. Why the Flyers waited until now to release that info is anyone's guess, given that NFL players who suffer similar injuries in camp or early in a season are always lost for the year in recovery.

White, a journeyman who mostly stayed below the radar while shuttling between the AHL and NHL, gained most notoriety for elbowing then-Philly defenseman Kent Huskins in the head in an April, 2013 game between the Habs and Flyers in Montreal.

As White is out of the picture for quite a while, and since the big club has had its share of injury issues so early in the exhibition season, it may become easier for Darroll Powe -- the closest facsimile to White -- to gain promotion through bumping up his contract from AHL to NHL status.

Though Andrew Gordon, Blair Jones, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and others might get a closer look, those players of a higher skill set are likely to be elevated when a top-six skater is on the shelf.

Gordon, Oliver Lauridsen and Brandon Manning were placed on waivers with intent to keep them with the Phantoms, while Powe and Taylor Leier were demoted to Allentown.